By Anastasia Mills Healy June 18, 2025 7:00 am EST

Close to 60% of the state of Connecticut is forested, a fact that earned it the top ranking as the best hiking spot in the United States. The coastal towns of the Nutmeg State rightly get a lot of attention for beaches and seafood, but head inland away from the Atlantic Ocean, and you’ll find forests, mountains, lakes, and rivers. The location called “the greenest place in Connecticut” is in Litchfield County in the western part of the state near the borders of both Massachusetts and New York. Founded in 1740 and named for a region of England, Cornwall, Connecticut, is one of the state’s smallest towns. With only 1,567 residents in a land mass of 46.3 miles as of the 2020 census, Cornwall is the definition of bucolic. While the average U.S. population density is 90 people per square mile, Cornwall has 34 people per square mile.